Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Collusion

"Secret talks to create a truce between the parties over long term care for the elderly was (sic) blown apart today after the Tories launched a poster featuring a gravestone attacking Labour proposals."

So says The Times which further informs us that Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, had been negotiating with his Labour counterpart about finding a consensus on the issue.

These talks had been going since November, to broker an agreement which would have seen Labour, Tories and the Liberal Democrats holding back from attacking one another's long term social care plans.

And where "social care plans" lead, what else follows? Are there similar deals in the making on the EU, on immigration and, of course, on climate change? Does this explain the complete lack of political debate on these vital issues?

The cat is out of the bag now. The big parties have been caught in the act, colluding to keep issues off the agenda – for their own electoral convenience. It really is "us and them" now, inviting a very obvious response.